Wander Beyond the Castle Walls
by Dan D. Kags
Summary: Would you like to live a life of being trapped in a castle for 16 years? Wouldn't you want to have an adventure of your own? Well Kagome Higurashi sure did.
1. Chapter 1

The young girl sat there… in front of the window, one of her only sources of fresh air and sunlight. She watched the Sakura tree outside of the mansion. The pink blossoms were just starting to bloom. Oh how wonderful it was to this young lady. She was never able to leave that mansion. And she was just getting the privilege to go out to the garden.

Her raven hair blew behind her as she watched the blossoms fall in a dance to the ground. Her chocolate brown eyes were intensely gazing at her beautiful surroundings, her cheeks becoming pink with the breeze.

For her whole life, she was stuck in the castle. Her parents, King and Queen Higurashi, would never let her leave the walls. But today they would make an acceptation. Today was her sixteenth birthday.

"Kagome dear," Her mother bellowed throughout the hallways of the vast palace.

"Yes Mother?" She replied innocently from the training room.

"Come to the throne room please."

"Yes Mother. Oh Sango, quick! I have to get a dress… I can't be in these clothes while going to see my parents! We'll have to schedule another lesson later."

"Aye Kagome, I'll help you," The demon slayer replied. She quickly helped the younger girl to her room to change. Kagome put on a pale blue dress that puffed out at the sleeves yet went straight down from the bust to the floor. It was presentable for a private meeting with the King and Queen.

"Thank you so much Sango! I owe you one!"

"No problem Kagome, you know what best friends do."

Sango came to the castle when Kagome was six and Sango was eight. The young girl and her little brother came to the castle to report of the Demon Slayer's Village's demise. A hoard of demons from the north had killed the whole village while Sango and her little brother, Kohaku had gone to pick berries for their mother. Their father had been the village head-man, so Sango and Kohaku were allowed to stay with the Higurashi's. Kagome and Sango had been inseparable ever since.

"Kagome, where have you been?" Asked the queen as Kagome rushed into the throne room still fixing her hair.

"Um… I was just doing my hair. See?"

"Alright, but don't make that mistake again."

"Yes Mother."

"Now, now Mimi. Don't be so hard on the girl. She is a wonderful daughter," Said a proud King Higurashi, "After all… she is sixteen today."

"Thank you Father," Kagome said bowing her head.

He walked down to where his daughter was standing and lifted her head.

"Now child… We are your parents. You can be yourself around us."

"To be honest with you father… no I can't."

He was shocked. He thought he always was close to his one and only daughter.

"What do you mean by that dear?"

"Well, why couldn't I go out of the palace walls for sixteen years?"

She was getting angry now. You could see her beautiful rosy cheeks fluster a tint of ruby.

"That was for your own good dear," Queen Higurashi cut in.

"Mimi!" The King bellowed, "Why is our only daughter saying this?"

"Um… dear… I…"

"ENOUGH! Kagome, what are you talking about?"

The young lady hesitated. _He didn't know? What? Even if he didn't… how could my mother hide it from him for sixteen years!_

"Well Father... I… I don't know. Mother always told me that I wasn't allowed out of the palace walls. I wasn't even allowed in the garden. She told me that I could go out to the garden on my sixteenth birthday, which is today. I always thought that you knew…" She broke out into sobs.

"Mimi… is this true?"

"Well… Kiro… I…um," she sighed, "Yes, it's true."

"Why!"

"Well… I don't know Kiro…"

Her sentence was never finished. There was a loud slap heard throughout the palace.

"Never go near Kagome or Souta ever again! Do you understand me!"

She was quivering now.

"Yes Kiro…"

"And don't ever address me in such ill manner. I am King Higurashi to you."

With that, he left the room.

"You little twit!" The Queen bellowed.

Kagome quivered.

"Wh…what?"

"You heard me! You are a little twit that should never see the world! You will never be as beautiful as me…ever! I won't ever let you have the throne. Souta will take it before you will!"

She was then taken away by the guards, to who knows where.

Kagome then fell to her knees, her body raking in sobs. She then felt arms around her shoulders. It was Souta, her younger brother.

"I heard everything, Sis. I wouldn't ever take the throne from you. You deserve it more than I do anyway."

"Thanks Squirt." She replied as she ruffled his hair.

"Kags…?" shouted a voice.

"Yeah Sango?"

"Now, how about that visit to the garden?"


	2. Chapter 2

The young man sat there on the window sill of his guest room in the palace. He really didn't want to be there at the moment…He wanted to be alone with the one he loved. Yes that is where the young prince wanted to be, with his beloved.

_'Kikyo'_

His long silver hair glimmered in the sunlight of midday. His warm amber eyes that held so much emotion intently gazed at the garden below. He thought it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Sakura trees lined a dirt path that lead to two separate gardens, one a flower garden, with roses all around with some tulips and daisies, while the other held many species of vegetables, such as carrots and lettuce.

"Inuyasha?" a young male voice asked seeking entrance to his quarters.

"Yeah Miroku…come on in," came his gruff reply.

The large double doors creaked open to reveal a young man with a nice build. He had beautiful violet eyes and short black hair tied in a pony tail at the nape of his neck. He had a kind, yet perverted smile on his face.

"Now what are you up to?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

Suddenly, he saw a sight that he thought he would never see until he went back to his home in the West.

"Kikyo…"

Miroku rushed to the window knowing that that couldn't be possible.

"Inuyasha, you know that would never happen…" His sentence stopped suddenly.

The young man dressed in purple monk robes saw what the young prince was staring at. A women who looked almost identical to the women his best friend came to 'love' was walking around the garden. She was accompanied by a women slightly older, who was dressed in lightweight black and red armor. She seemed to be familiar to the art of demon slaying, with the large boomerang strapped onto her back. She had her hair in a pony tail atop her head.

The other woman however looked to be higher in rank, for she had on a gown that went straight down to the floor and had sapphires braided into her raven locks.

"Inuyasha…It's not her."

"Well I know that!"

'_She is beautiful though…'_

There was silence as the two young men stared at the sight before them.

"Miroku? Do you know who she is?"

"No I do not, sire. I apologize."

"No, no. There's no need to apologize. I was just curious. But there is one thing I need to ask of you."

"Yes, dear friend?"

"Find out who this young woman is."

"Yes, Inuyasha. I will figure it out as soon as dinner is served. But I must go. Have a nice afternoon and don't go running off… you're father and brother will become very upset."

"Yeah, yeah, I know!"

Inuyasha's left ear twitched with the sound of footsteps walking towards the entry way to his quarters. He then heard the gigantic doors close with a thump.

:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P

"Sango! It's so beautiful!"

"I'm glad, Lady Kagome."

"Look…the Sakura blossoms are almost at full bloom!"

The young lady danced and jumped with joy and excitement. She had never been outside the world of the palace before and on her sixteenth birthday, she was finally able to see the world for the first time. She was a five year old at that moment… and she loved it!

The older woman smiled at her child-hood friend. She knew and could see for herself, that no one would take away Kagome's innocence. Even if something were to spark in her dear friend to ever do such a thing…Sango would be right there, fighting for her. For Sango lost her child like self long ago…But Kagome had the gift to bring some of it back.


End file.
